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The Eevee Elite- the Fourth War

As this is a war fic, I’ll go ahead and rate it PG-14. This isn’t the most graphic war fic out there and I don’t use swearing, however in the past I have had some pretty bloody scenes.

After a considerable amount of debate, I’ve decided to finally get around to post a fanfic here on Serebii.

First of all, I am aware that there is (or was, have no idea how active it is) a clan on here called the Eevee Elite led by TheUmbreonMaster. Before you say anything about me taking their name, read the credits at the end of that first clan post, okay?

And if you don’t like my ideas, don’t comment.

This is actually a long-term project of role-playing games and fanfiction I’ve done elsewhere. As such, there is quite a bit of explaining of ideas I have to do here……

The Eevee Elite was formed about 15 years ago to combat a team known only as the Brotherhood. Using all seven of Eevee’s Evolutions and stolen vehicles and weapons, they fought against the masses of Brotherhood Pokemon who were attempting to take over the world in what came to be known as the First War.

The Eevee Elite won and a few years of peace settled over Pokearth (I do use Serebii’s map) before a new Brotherhood resurfaced. After a few months of renewed fighting, a third opposing team- the Firebolt Clan, made up solely of electric, fire, and dark types- attacked both teams and tore through their lines before being stopped. A bloody war ensued, far worse than the first war, until a ceasefire was declared after the Indigo Plateau in Kanto was hit by a strategic-level nuclear weapon fired by the Brotherhood.

A tense peace followed that, with the Firebolts in control of Johto and Hoenn, the Eevee Elite in control of Kanto and Sinnoh, and the Brotherood in control of Fiore, Almia, and Oblivia. Orre, the Sevii Islands, and Unova were all neutral, with Unova actually having a very strong self-defense force.

But that all ended in a heartbeat. Deep within Orre, the legendary Pokemon Mewtwo had been creating a massive army of cloned Pokemon known as the Immortals. Their legions quickly swept through what few defenses were in Orre and then captured Johto and Kanto before striking right into the heart of Sinnoh in what was known as the Third War.

And they won. The Eevee Elite (and also the Firebolt Clan) were both destroyed and their remaining members scattered. But a massive Brotherhood counterattack destroyed the Immortal armies, their cloning facilities, and Mewtwo himself.

And so the Brotherhood had control of the world, creating the setting for the Fourth War.

Yes, that leaves a huge amount of details out, especially on characters that will be important here in this fanfic. But I can’t summarize two-three years of work easily.

At the end of the Third War, the Eevee Elite was divided into Squadrons that were named after letters of the Greek Alphabet (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, and so on, with a few modifications to the order of the letters). They were led by High Command, which was made of the strongest of each of the seven Eeveelutions and which itself was led by a shiny male Umbreon named Burakki. The other members were a male Jolteon named Lightswift (who replaced a female Jolteon named Nikila midwar after she died), a female Vaporeon named Aquana, a male Flareon named Vakama, a female Espeon named Mirage, a male Leafeon named Lichen (who replaced a male Leafeon named Forest midwar when he was killed at the same battle as Nikila), and a male Glaceon named Kalus. Only Kalus survived the war, but his location is unknown.

Yes, my Eeveelutions (and almost all other Pokemon, with a few exceptions such as birds and fish) can hold weapons of both the melee and firearm varieties and drive/fly/sail specially modified vehicles. Some naval ships also have a specialized command center on the bridge, where a single Eeveelution can control the entire ship (aircraft carriers being the main exception). Of course, you rarely see a navy ship with only one crew member regardless, and I don’t think there will be any naval battles here anyway, so I won’t go into detail.

The team also makes use of crystals to store energy. A single crystal the width of your thumb can hold a large amount of energy that can be drawn upon during emergencies. And through this technology, the Sky Jewel was created by a Leafeon named Jade (who is in this fanfic).

The Sky Jewel made use of the known ability for a Leafeon, when struck by a specialized psychic attack during use of Aerial Ace, to grow wings of blue energy. The jewel is an emerald on a necklace, with a Leafeon imprinted on it with silver that stores such psychic energy. A Leafeon that uses the Sky Jewel to give themselves flying abilities and that actively participates in battle using such abilities is known as a Sky Leafeon. For proof that a Leafeon can fly, I’ll put a link here later that links to the anime episode where a Leafeon flys- (spoiler warning!) http://www.serebii.net/anime/picture...u/644ps8.shtml Just look at the first few pictures.

Anyway, after the Third War, a group of former members managed to join together in the middle of nowhere north of Kanto. 19 members total, they created a new Alpha Squadron. They had two initial goals- destroy the Brotherhood, and find Kalus. The last remaining member of the former High Command was believed to be hiding somewhere in Hoenn...... but no one knew where.

You’ll notice the presence of two Spring Ninetales. I’ll explain them in the credits just before I start the prologue. Slate also has the normal darker markings of a cloned Pokemon.

Of those members, Jade, Meadow, Spark, Volt, and Moss are former Epsilon Squad members, Aya, Satoshi, and Maxie are former Pi members, Gorz (and to some extent Midnight) are former Omicron members, Ember and Sparky are former Alpha members, Kirio and Star are both former Iota squadron members (although for a couple years Kirio was MIA and not an active member), and Dusk was not a member of a squadron.

With 19 members and no Eevees, this squadron is by no means a weak one. Although it lacks a Vaporeon completely and has only one Flareon, and is overwhelmingly male, there is a huge spread of skills sets- Aya has incredible close-combat skills, Midnight and Jade are extremely powerful in all aspects, Spark and his younger brother Volt know Railgun, Star is an avid teleporter, and Ember, Gorz, and Slate also have a lot of experience. There are also several very close relationships, as there are siblings, mates, and children all within the same squadron- along with some rivalries, such as between Midnight/Jade and Sleet/Slate.

Credits-
Credit for the Pokearth map goes to Serebii’s staff. Love that map so much! Thanks guys!
Credit for some of the names and characters I use go to the people who used them in my roleplaying on my own forum.
Credit for the idea of crystals storing energy goes to the Eragon book series.
Credit for the Winter Vulpix/ Ninetales goes to Global Pokedex Plus. They created the lovely Ice/Fire type, and from that I created three more- the Grass/Fire Spring Ninetales, the Electric/Fire Summer Ninetales, and the Dark/Fire Autumn Ninetales. Each one has a different color of fur from the normal Ninetales, cyan/light green/yellow/black respectively. They are clones, of course, but are smarter and not as aggressive as most cloned Pokemon. Oh, and they’re all female.
Credit for most- but not all- signature moves goes to me. Credit for the others goes to whoever created them. Signature moves are moves created by a team member, who can then teach that move to other allies if they so please. Sleet, for example, has the signature moves Ice Wall and Flash Freeze- will explain those when he uses them.

Sorry for the long introduction. Hope it wasn’t too confusing, things should get better as you read. Time for the prologue……

Prologue
Dazed, Sleet began to regain consciousness.

The first thing he noticed was the smoke, and a throbbing headache. He could barely keep his eyes open, and he held his paw in front of his face, trying to focus on it and shut out the pain. Where…… where am I?

He turned his head slowly to look at his surroundings. He was strapped in a chair, and in front of him was what appeared to be a broken flight stick and a panel of small screens and guages. There was metal in front of him, behind him, to his left, his right, and below, while above him was glass. What happened……? And where am I?

He unbuckled himself and suddenly fell out of the seat. It took him a moment to realize that his right side was actually down…… but why?

Before breaking the glass to free himself from the confined space he was in, he checked his injuries. First he forced himself to cough on his paw, before carefully studying it. No blood; he had no lung injuries then. Next he checked his legs; they were scratched and bruised but not broken. His ears were still attached, and his tail was in one piece as well. He could move fine, so his back and ribs weren’t broken. Whatever had happened, he hadn’t been seriously injured.

He checked his belongings next. He wore a bag on his right side with two straps, one around his waist and the other stretching across his back to his left shoulder before looping under his belly. Attached to the top of that strap was a sheath that contained a one-handed sword, whose hilt lay above his shoulder and within easy reach during a fight. His bag was still closed tightly, so nothing had spilled out. I think I’ve got everything…… but did I have a rifle?

He looked around but could find no trace of any kind of large firearm, so he decided he might as well try and get out of his capsule of steel. It was starting to get hot, because somewhere nearby a fire was burning fiercely. If it came any closer, he was at risk of heat exhaustion, which came easily for an Ice-type like him, so he had no time to waste.

He didn’t waste any time, and a ball of glowing orange energy quickly phased into existence in front of his open jaws. A moment later, he blasted the energy through the glass in the form of a powerful Hyper Beam.

The glass disintegrated and flew outwards in all directions. Sleet gasped painfully as the effects of Hyper Beam’s momentary energy drain left him immobilized, but the moment he could move again he clambered out of the steel shell and dashed away from the fire before finally turning around to see what he was stuck in.

It took him a moment to realize he had been in the burned-out shell of an AH-64C Apache attack helicopter. The helicopter was lying on its right side, with a massive hole on its left side, which now faced the sky. Smoke and fire poured from the hole, covering the helicopter in black soot and sending a smoke cloud high into the atmosphere. The tail of the helicopter lay nearly 20 feet behind it, and it was twisted near the part where it would have connected with the helicopter. It looked like it had been sheared off by some kind of massive force. What…… what happened?

Then it all came back to him. He’d just stolen the helicopter when a massive Brotherhood force had attacked him and his friends, who had just joined together a week earlier to form the new Eevee Elite’s first squadron, Alpha Squad. He’d provided as much help as he could before running out of ammunition.

The last voice he had heard was from his best friend Volt, who had told him, “Aya and Jade have given orders to split up. Remember, radios are silent from now on, unless it is an absolute emergency. And remember to head for the meeting spot.”

Just after the message had stopped, a nearby Brotherhood F-22 Raptor had struck his Apache in the side with a radar-guided AMRAAM missile, while the Raptor’s wingman closed in and shot out his tail rotor with its powerful autocannon. His helicopter had gone down fast, spinning all the while, experiencing so many G-forces that the tail had sheared off.

But…… the meeting spot. Where was the meeting spot?

Olivine City…… He didn’t know how he had remembered that, but he had.

Unfortunantly, he was alone, somewhere north of Route 25 and Cerulean City in Kanto. His destination lay on the far side of Johto. Getting there was going to be a major challenge……

Chapter 1
Sleet sighed and pulled a map out of his bag, on which Kanto was printed. The map extended outwards for 50 miles in every direction beyond Kanto’s borders, so he was hoping he would be on the map somewhere.

But the map showed that the general area he was in was flat with no lakes or other distinguishing landmarks, and a quick look in every direction confirmed that. He had no idea where on the map he was. The only heartening thought was that his cell phone had a compass on it, which pointed north, so he knew which direction was south and could head back towards Kanto.

“This sucks,” he growled, and then he began to walk southwards, keeping an eye on the skies in case the two Raptors returned to haunt him some more.

But the Brotherhood wasn’t anywhere close by, and the sounds of Pidgey and Spearow singing filled the air. It was as if a war had never come to the area, and his helicopter had never crashed. The birds must be ignoring me……

But a quiet noise soon filled his ears. It took him a moment to realize they were the main rotor blades of a nearby helicopter…… but they were quiet, not sounding like any kind of helicopter he recognized. He crouched and looked around, then began to creep towards the sound.

It quickly grew louder, and then the helicopter appeared above the treeline about a mile in front of him. It made a sharp turn and flew straight over him, and Sleet was speechless with joy.

It was Jade’s Comanche scout helicopter!

Jade was Alpha’s strongest member. A male Sky Leafeon of surprising size, he was the one responsible for the creation of the original Sky Jewel and had mastered all of the abilities flight gave to the Grass Eeveelution. He was also extremely proficient in ground combat and was a great pilot. The only other squad member who came anywhere close to his abilities was a female black Flareon named Midnight, who had lived and fought since the First War, during which her fur color was changed as the result of Bortherhood genetics testing. She was widely considered Jade’s rival and had beaten him several times.

Jade’s Comanche helicopter was a slightly-modified RAH-66E Comanche II used exclusively by the Eevee Elite. It differed from the rare Comanche in that it was larger and housed hidden rocket pods, and the helicopter’s engine was modified to give it a higher top speed and acceleration. It was also pained with an image of a Leafeon that resembled Jade.

And the helicopter that had just flown over him matched that description exactly. “No! Come back!”

Almost as if he had heard him, the helicopter halted and turned southwards.

And was very quickly hit by behind from an AMRAAM.

The Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile was commonly carried by Brotherhood F-22 and F-22BR Raptors and also by F-35B and F-35E Lightning IIs and was capable of taking down most other aircraft and almost all helicopters with a single hit out to medium ranges. It was radar-guided and could not be easily avoided, even with chaff countermeasures. Sleet himself had never managed to avoid one, although his experiences with air combat were very lacking and he’d only tried twice.

The Comanche wobbled and flew sideways, and for a moment looked like it might keep flying. Then it dropped straight downwards into the ground, spinning 180 degrees on the way down and spewing black smoke the entire time.

Sleet rushed towards the downed helicopter, hoping Jade was okay. His body glowed white as a Quick Attack enhanced his speed considerably, and within no time he was near the wreckage of the Comanche.

The helicopter was still in one piece, apart from the rotor blades. However, there was a hole just behind where the right-side missile bay was, which extended from just below the rotor blades to the bottom of the aircraft. The entire hole was engulfed in fire, and the smoke created by it was a clear signal to anyone within a several mile radius that a helicopter had gone down.

But Jade was not climbing out of the helicopter. Instead, a scrawny Umbreon was. “That’s…… not Jade……” Sleet’s heart plummeted. Maybe he didn’t have a chance for survival after all.

But his hopes shot up once again when he realized that regardless of whether or not it was Jade, it was still an ally. The Umbreon was too small to be Aya, his squad leader and one of his three mentors, and it didn’t have the very noticeable caution and timidness of Dusk.

That meant it had to be Alpha 8, which was Kirio, Aya’s mate. Kirio had spent the past two years in a Brotherhood prison before being rescued by Jade and Spark about four months earlier. He was just now beginning to recover from the lack of food and the lack of training, and despite having a calm head, a decent amount of experience, and a variety of moves, he’d been imprisoned for so long that he lacked any strength or any ability to take much damage. He’d gotten better since Sleet had first met him, and at least he was always friendly and willing to help out.

There are worse allies for me to team up with…… like Slate…… or Arctic……Slate was a clone Absol and his rival, while Arctic was Jade’s son. Arctic was nice and well-meaning, but his desire to try and learn everything he possibly could from Sleet drove him nuts. Sleet knew the young Glaceon just wanted to be around other Glaceons and didn’t want to cause him any trouble, but he preferred to train alone or with someone much stronger than him, like Aya, and having a bystander intently watching his every move just annoyed him to no end.

He decided to call out from the trees towards the Umbreon. “Kirio! Is that you?”

The Umbreon stopped and looked around but didn’t see him. “Who’s there?”

Sleet shook his head, and he could tell Kirio saddened. “I haven’t seen anyone since before I stole that other helicopter this morning, apart from you.”

Kirio’s face brightened. “You have a helicopter? Where?”

“It’s in worse condition than yours, lying on its side in a clearing back there with the tail broken off. It was an Apache. So how did you get a hold of Jade’s Comanche……?” Sleet asked, seeing the bright look on Kirio’s face disappear.

“Jade took a Raptor and flew northwards, so I figured he didn’t want it anymore.”

“Was everyone all right when you left the base?”

“Yeah, we saw the Brotherhood attack before they reached us, so we all fled in every direction. But I don’t think everyone is doing as well now as they were then.”

“Probably,” Sleet agreed. “Now I guess we should head south into Kanto before……”

“We?” Kirio’s ears perked up.

“Yes, we. I’m not about to let you get captured again. Aya would be heartbroken, and probably pretty mad, if I let something happen to you.”

Kirio sighed. “I suppose she would.” They were silent for a minute, before Kirio asked, “You like her, don’t you?”

Sleet shook his head. “Admire is a better term. She taught me a lot, and besides, I have a girlfriend back in Floaroma Town in Sinnoh.” He started to walk south, motioning with his tail for Kirio to follow.

“She mentored you?” Kirio asked as they walked.

“Yeah, she was one of my mentors. She taught me, Volt, and Dusk all at the same time, although she was really only officially Dusk’s mentor since he’s the same evolution as her and was the weakest of our group.”

“Who were your other mentors, then?” Kirio asked curiously.

“An Espeon named Sol and a Glaceon named Blizzard. And Volt too, somewhat. Blizzard died early on in the Battle of Sinnoh, so his friend Sol continued my training from there, until he died fighting a Latios near Floaroma Town. I was almost killed by that Latios too, and only about a week after getting out of the hospital, we rescued Aya. And she trained me from there, with some help from Volt.”

“She is very talented,” Kirio said.

“That’s for sure,” Sleet agreed. “I’ve never seen her lose before.”

“I can mention a few times…… but she wouldn’t appreciate it at all. I wouldn’t be surprised if she suddenly popped out from behind a tree and made it so I couldn’t ever speak again,” Kirio said, relatively quietly. “When I knew her a few years ago, she was just starting to get used to being in a squadron. She had the distinction of always being able to catch everyone else when they were least expecting her. She’s grown much stronger since then, into one of our best squad leaders, but I doubt she lost that ability.”

He paused for a moment, then said, “If anything, she is probably traveling either alone or with those two members of her old squadron…… I doubt she’d travel with Midnight or Jade.”

“Who knows……” Sleet said. “From what I know of her, she and Volt seem to get along well enough…… you know, it probably wouldn’t be too hard to predict who would look for who to travel with.”

Kirio nodded and they walked southwards quietly for a few moments, before Sleet said, “The Jolteon would all be together, obviously…… maybe besides Satoshi. Although, I would not be surprised if Satoshi were with them, which would mean Maxie would be with them too, since those two are never far apart. Aya is probably with them.”

“Jade is probably alone, since he flew out to the north,” Kirio said. “And Midnight always seemed to prefer to keep to herself, so she is probably alone too.”

“Yeah,” Sleet agreed. “And Arctic and Hazel are most likely with Meadow.” If they aren’t with her, Midnight, or Aya, or somehow with Jade, they’re as good as dead……

“Who does that leave?”

“Umm…… Gorz, Dusk, Star, Moss, and Slate. And Ember too.”

“An Absol like Slate is probably on his own…… and from what I’ve heard about the way he thinks, Moss probably is too,” Kirio said. “As for Dusk and the three Espeons, they are probably together…… Dusk would do everything he possibly could to not be alone out here. Not sure about Ember though…… and Gorz probably would have found a way to dump him somewhere by now anyway.”

“He is annoying, I will admit that,” Sleet said, briefly parting ways with Kirio as they skirted around a giant tree. “But Ember really isn’t all that bad. Sure, he eats everything and he argues over pointless things, but he is fairly smart, and he’s quite strong, which is rare for an Espeon.”

“You only got to know him because you knew that by hanging around him Arctic wouldn’t bother you,” Kirio muttered. “You really should start mentoring him. He thinks very highly of you, and it really hurts him when you ignore him. He reminds me of his father when he was young.”

“I know, but…… I just…… wait…… what did you just say? You knew Jade when he was in training?” Sleet was astounded. Kirio was older than he appeared.

“I did. He and Aya were in the same class at the training school, while I was in the class ahead of them. That’s how we met.”

“Wow……” Sleet muttered.

“Even back then, Jade’s talents were amazing, however he did have competition from not only Aya but also Lichen and Lightswift too, plus Jade’s sister Mirage.”

“They were all part of the same class?” Sleet gasped. Jade’s accomplishments were well known by now, as he had created the Sky Jewel, and Aya had grown to be one of the best squad leaders of the Third War, although she was slightly behind Lightswift. Lightswift had been a very talented Jolteon who had briefly become part of High Command before the war ended and he died. Lichen was a Leafeon who had first found out about Leafeon’s potential to fly, and had come up with the first few tactics before the Sky Jewel had been created. He had also been part of High Command for a few months during the end of the war. And Mirage, a female Espeon, was a long-time member of High Command. “I didn’t know Jade had siblings, either.”

“They kept quiet about it, but they had quite a bond, especially considering they were almost always apart from each other. And Lichen was two classes ahead of Jade, and a class ahead of me…… but for his first two semesters of training, Jade and Lichen sparred constantly.” In the old training academy, you took four semesters of training, with each semester lasting twelve weeks- counting the breaks between, it was close to one year of training.

The two Eeveelutions walked on for several more minutes silently, before coming to a ridge that overlooked Route 25. They could see Cerulean City in the distance, and the sun was directly overhead, indicating it was sometime after noon.

“Almost there……” Sleet muttered. “Should we spend the rest of today in the city or try and get as far as we can?”

“If we spend tonight here, we get the benefit of a good rest, but the Brotherhood is going to be watching this city like a hawk because of its proximity to our ruined base and we’re bound to be spotted. So my vote is go around it completely and head towards Mt. Moon,” Kirio said. “But if we do enter the city, we have a better chance of finding an ally…… either an inexperienced one who doesn’t realize how dangerous a city can be, or an experienced one who doesn’t care.”

“We could find Aya or Midnight, then……. or Spark or Meadow,” Sleet said.

They stared at each other for a while, their minds battling between the advantages of each thought. If they avoided the town, they avoided a lot of potential trouble. But if they entered the town and found Jade or someone else strong, their chances of survival shot up astronomically.

Eventually Sleet said, “I vote go at least into the outskirts of the city and search for an ally, something to eat, and a good place to spend the night.”

Kirio sighed. “Well, our chances aren’t too bad…… but we have to be really careful or we’re just going to get ourselves killed, along with anyone we find.”

They carefully climbed down the ridge and kept to the shadows as they traversed Route 25 and headed into Cerulean City’s northernmost suburbs.

After Pewter City, Cerulean City was the second largest city remaining standing after the Third War. During the war, most of Viridian City had been flattened during the Immortal advance. The region’s port city, Vermillion, had been struck by a monstrous strategic nuclear warhead during the war, leveling the entire city and doing significant damage to Saffron City. Lavender Town had been afflicted with the radiation following the blast, while Celadon City had been burned to the ground after a long fight to secure the vast reserves of the department store there. In the south, Fuchisa City was also mostly standing, but it was somewhat damaged and was smaller anyway. The region of Kanto overall was a fairly depressing place to live now.

As they entered the city, a single Mi-24 Hind attack-transport helicopter flew out of the city. They assumed it was an enemy and hid in a bush, and it failed to spot them. The helicopter had been fully armed with four rocket pods, causing Sleet to suppress a shiver at what kind of damage it could do if it caught someone unaware.

Kirio stood on his hind legs to peek out of the bush, then said, “It’s all clear, the helicopter is gone. It headed north……”

“We’d better find a safe place to hide soon, and branch out from there,” Sleet said.

Kirio nodded agreement, and they walked down opposite sides of the road, looking at all the houses they passed. Eventually Kirio called his name, and Sleet raced towards him.

Kirio had gone somewhat ahead, and had found the remains of a abandoned house. It appeared to have caught fire at some time in the past and hadn’t been torn down and rebuilt yet. Three-quarters of the house were remaining, but the part that was missing was most of the roof and part of the front wall. Still, it gave them a place to shelter for that day.

“You got a handgun?” Kirio asked.

“Yeah, why? You don’t have one?”

“I think I left it in my room back at the base…… anyway, I want to make sure no one is inside the building.”

“Use a dagger then,” Sleet said, unwilling to part with his handgun. It was a basic 9mm handgun, but he’d had it for a long time and it had seen him through many fights. His girlfriend, a female Glaceon named Gleam who was not a part of the Eevee Elite and lived in Sinnoh, had carved his name into the hilt of the gun. This also reinforced his stubbornness about giving up his gun.

Kirio grunted and drew a dagger from his bag. “Your fault if I get shot then. Keep watch from the front yard.”

Sleet sighed and climbed into a large, old oak tree in the yard to sit watch for a few minutes before Kirio emerged from the building. “It’s empty. Doesn’t give much protection from above on the second floor, but it’s not raining and we haven’t been found yet so that shouldn’t be an issue.”

“What now then? It isn’t even mid-afternoon yet,” Sleet asked.

“Well, I guess we explore the area and search for allies.”

“We should split up then,” Sleet said. “We’d be more likely to find someone.”

“But what if we get caught? We’re safer together.”

“We do our best to evade them. Let’s meet back here at sundown. If one of us hasn’t returned by sunrise tomorrow we can assume that they were caught and just go on ahead.”

Kirio didn’t look pleased with the idea but he didn’t argue. The two Eeveelutions split up; Sleet went west and Kirio went east.

For the next two hours Sleet wandered aimlessly through the city streets. They were moderately busy, but no one paid any attention to him, despite the fact that he was not making any attempt to hide the sword strapped to his back (apart from having it inside its sheath and not totally visable).

Then he saw a shadow flit across an alley across the street. Concerned he had been spotted, he quickly crossed the street and peeked into the alley, which was between two small office buildings.

The alley was empty, so he slowly entered it until he came to a 4-way intersection where the two office buildings met two more office buildings. This area was full of office buildings, and there were a lot of alleys between them.

He looked left first, then looked right just in time to see the tip of a cyan, fluffy tail disappear around another corner.

He scented the air carefully, and caught a hint of the other Pokemon’s scent. It smelled good, almost perfumey, and he was quickly suspicious at what it was. A Winter Ninetales? Better stay away……

He started to walk back the way he came when the Winter Ninetales- for it was indeed a Winter Ninetales- turned around and came back into view.

She spotted him (all Seasonal Ninetales are female) and immediately charged.

As she approached, Sleet noticed several things. She was young, and likely had little experience. She wasn’t as fast as the few other Winter Ninetales he had fought, and as much slower than Meadow was.

I can fight her. Might as well scare her enough that if she finds Kirio she won’t attack him……

He quickly shifted his stance somewhat into a defensive one. But he hoped two attacks would be all he needed to make her turn tail and run. But then again, the Seasonal Ninetales were a stubborn group of enemies…… smart and skilled, but stubborn.

As soon as the Ninetales leaped to close the final distance between them and attack, Sleet used the common Glaceon signature move Ice Wall to summon a 7-foot-tall wall of ice in front of him that stretched from one side of the alley to the other. The Ninetales crashed into it hard and fell to the ground with a dull thump.

Then Sleet jumped up on top of the wall, charging up for his second signature move, Flash Freeze. A ring of cyan ice energy started at the tip of his tail and began to travel down his body before reaching his nose, where it condensed into a ball of energy The Ninetales looked up at him and recognized the attack as he was about to let it lose, and covered herself with her tails, using Iron Tail to create a metal shield around herself.

Not bad…… Sleet thought as he loosed the deadly beam-like pulse of ice energy, which struck the metal tail-shield and froze several of the tails together. The Winter Ninetales turned and ran around the corner she had appeared from.

She’d better not follow me…… Sleet turned around to jump off the ice wall and noticed another Ninetales off in another nearby alleyway. This one was a light green Spring Ninetales, and at the same time he noticed her she noticed him.

“Not another one…… he muttered.” This one was really young too, even younger than the Winter one…… and there was something familiar about her.

She apparently recognized him too, and began to approach him. They squinted at each other, before the Ninetales finally spoke. “Sleet? Is that you?”

Hazel shook her head sadly. “You’re the first friend I’ve seen since we abandoned our home this morning. Do you have anyone else with you? And, umm…… what’s with the ice wall?”

“Kirio’s here in Cerulean somewhere. We split up to try and find everyone else, and we’ll be meeting back at a safe spot at dusk.” He turned on the wall and looked back at where the Winter Ninetales had fled. “And the wall is here because you aren’t the only Seasonal Ninetales around, there’s a Winter one over there somewhere.”

Hazel seemed somewhat unnerved by that, so he quickly added, “But she’s not got any experience, so I scared her away pretty easily.”

“She isn’t any different than I am, then……” Hazel muttered. “So where is this safe place? I figure I’ll wait there for you and Kirio to finish looking around.”

Sleet glanced at her, then back at the corner. He had a feeling the Winter Ninetales was still there, waiting to follow them one of them. Then he looked up at the sky, and from the position of the sun, guessed there was still another two hours or so until dusk. “I think you’d be safer staying with me until I head back.”

He knew Hazel had very little experience, and she wasn’t quite as eager to learn as Arctic was- although she did enjoy healing, but that wasn’t something he could help her with. Maybe Kirio could help her with that……

“Oh, okay,” she sighed. “I hope my brother is okay…… I saw Jade go north, but I don’t know where he or Meadow went.”

Hazel still didn’t seem convinced, so Sleet said, “Let’s get moving, before that Ninetales decides to get bold somehow, because I’m pretty sure she’s still over there.”

He jumped off the wall of ice and led her back the way he had come, out from between the buildings and then north to the edge of the city. He jumped on top of a fence and stared at the skies around them, before he heard Hazel mutter, “We’re being followed.”

The small Glaceon turned and looked back southwards, but didn’t see anyone. “Are we? By who?”

“I think it’s that Ninetales you’ve mentioned a few times……”

Sleet sighed. “Guess it’s time to try and scare her, or whoever it is, off for good then.”

“But……” Hazel argued.

“This will be quick,” he said, jumping off the fence and walking back southwards. He passed between a pair of houses, and quickly saw the Winter Ninetales hiding in a tree. Once she realized she’d been spotted, she jumped out of the tree and bolted across the street and around some parked cars.

“Oh no you don’t!” Sleet gave chase, ignoring Hazel’s calls for him to wait. He tore across the street as fast as his legs would carry him, slid around the parked cars, and ran after his foe as she disappeared between two more houses.

By the time he reached the houses she disappeared over another fence. With a running start, he cleared the six-foot-tall fence with a single leap.

As he flew over the fence, he saw the Winter Ninetales hiding next to it. She had been waiting for him to jump up on the fence to get over it, where she could easily attack him. But as he soared over the fence, she squeaked in surprise and shot forwards towards where he was about to land, one of her front paws flaming in preparation for an attack.

As Sleet touched the ground with his front paws first, he let all the impact of the jump be absorbed by them while at the same time moving his body so that we was standing vertically on his two front paws. As his foe approached him, he did a flip backwards, and landed squarely on her.

His first attack was a quick Ice Fang on her left shoulder. He didn’t want to kill her, only scare her away so that she could possibly cause problems for the Brotherhood here in the future. She hissed in pain and rolled over, trying to crush him underneath her.

But the young Ninetales wasn’t quite big enough to do that, and his size prevented her from rolling on top of him, instead slamming him into the ground and tearing his fangs out of her shoulder.

Sleet let her scramble up off the ground and back away from him. She stared coldly back at him, blood dripping off her left shoulder.

It was then that Hazel jumped up on the fence, spooking the Winter Ninetales and making her turn tail and run. Sleet let her flee this time, and muttered to Hazel, “She won’t be following us again anytime soon. And I hope she leaves Kirio alone too.”

They wandered around Cerulean City for the rest of that afternoon, but did not see her again, or any other allies or enemies for that matter. The sun was just about to start to dip below the horizon when Sleet said to Hazel, “Lets head back to the meeting location.”

His newfound companion looked very tired, but she didn’t complain when Sleet used the safer-but-longer routes around major city intersections and other high-traffic areas where there was likely to be a lookout. He wasn’t even sure if she noticed. She’s probably just willing herself onwards, knowing she can rest when we get back to the burned-out house. I already like her better than her brother, because she is quiet……

Not for the first time, he wondered how her parents even got along in the first place. He did not know either of them very well, and both were rather quiet, but Jade was fairly aggressive and sometimes just plain mean, while Meadow was very shy, nice, and loved to help everyone else with any kind of problem. Not that Jade wasn’t helpful- during training, he was a good ally to have watching from the sidelines- but in general, he wasn’t as nice as his mate was. Of course, he was quite possibly the strongest living Grass-type and thus had some bragging rights, but at least he didn’t act superior to everyone (apart from weaker enemies, just to scare them away). That, and he could fly……

As he continued to lead Hazel back to his and Kirio’s meeting spot, he thought about what little he knew about the secrets of the Sky Leafeons. How their jewels worked was a secret closely guarded by the Sky Leafeons and the Espeons that knew how to refill the jewels. Both were exceedingly rare, although the Sky Leafeons were a bit more common. Apparently to become either a Sky Leafeon or to learn how to refill the energy in the Sky Jewel was among the most difficult tasks available to a member of any army, and as such the feat of flight using a crystal had never been replicated outside of the Eevee Elite. Very rarely, some of the Brotherhood Pokemon (Leafeon in particular, but a few other Pokemon have the capability, such as Absol) would make use of a psychic type to give themselves the ability to fly; however, the ability was rarely used partly because of the power of a Sky Leafeon against any non-Flying type and partly because in most cases it was just easier for the Brotherhood to use a Staraptor or Pidgeot.

Apart from Jade, Sleet had only ever known three other Sky Leafeons, and one of them was just now beginning to learn how to fly. That one new flyer, Moss, was exceedingly cautious with his newfound wings and rarely used them. He’d also known one Sky Leafeon when he was in training (never by name- he just saw the Leafeon several times at the training field because he was a guard) and another Leafeon named Thorn. He and Thorn had been bitter rivals, very rarely getting along with each other. Thorn died in Floaroma Town at the same time one of Sleet’s mentors, Sol, had died. He too had been killed by a very strong Latios, and Sleet really hadn’t missed him.

“Is that the place?” Hazel’s voice brought Sleet out of his thoughts and back into the reality of Cerulean City. The burned-out house was across the street from them.

“Yeah, this is the place. I hope Kirio is here already.”

“He probably is,” Hazel said quietly. “He never seemed to like being out in unfamiliar areas alone.”

“Can’t say I blame him, after spending a few years in prison,” Sleet muttered. The pair waited for a car to pass before crossing the street and entering the burned-out house.

Hazel sniffed at the remains of a sofa in what looked like the living room while Sleet carefully searched the house. It was empty; Kirio was not back yet.

“He’s late……” he muttered as he climbed down the stairs and walked back into the living room. “Kirio isn’t here yet.”

“Yes I am,” a voice sounded from behind him. Sleet looked over his shoulder to see the skinny Umbreon walk carefully around a hole in the floor and stand next to him. The Umbreon’s eyes flitted around the room before resting on Hazel. “So you had better luck than I did, then. Meet any enemies?”

“We had a couple encounters with a Winter Ninetales,” Sleet explained. “But she was real young, and wasn’t a problem.”

“You had a far more interesting day than I did, then,” Kirio growled. “I wandered around pointlessly all day. Didn’t see a single thing of use, apart from a few more safe spots to spend the night if we have too.”

“I think it would be better to leave the city tomorrow,” Sleet said. “And get as far away from it as possible.”

“Agreed,” Kirio said. “So what did you say about meeting a young Winter Ninetales?”

“We had a few short fights with her. I first found her in an alley, and she rushed at me to attack but I scared her off with my signature moves without actually hurting her. Then I found Hazel, and she followed us for a ways before I turned around and attacked her. We fought for maybe a minute before I sent her running off, and I haven’t seen her since.”

“Oh,” Kirio said. “And you’re sure she didn’t follow you here?”

“No……” Sleet muttered. “But I doubt she did. Either me or Hazel would have noticed her, probably. And with you here I don’t think she’d come in or try to attack when we leave or anything.”

Kirio didn’t say anything, he just looked down at the ground, deep in thought. Sleet yawned and turned to look at Hazel, who had curled up on the remains of the sofa, claiming it for herself. His Spring Ninetales ally was already in a light state of sleep, so Sleet didn’t bother her and climbed up the stairs, leaving Kirio staring off at nothing.

The second floor of the burned-out house was small, and half of it was gone. The remaining half was composed of a single small bedroom and two closets, one in the hallway between the room and the stairs and one in the bedroom.

Sleet peeked into the bedroom. It was blackened with soot from smoke, but it was a pretty good size and the bed was still intact, although it too was covered in the black soot. I don’t think I want to sleep on that…… which means Hazel probably got the best spot in the building for sleeping. Oh well, she is the least experienced of us, so she needs sleep the most to be able to keep up……

He slowly walked into the bedroom and checked the closet, but it was empty. He checked the hall closet next, and found what he’d been hoping to find.

The closet contained some extra blankets and towels, with only minor smoke damage. “These may come in handy……” he muttered, and took several of the blankets back down the stairs.

He dropped them at Kirio’s feet. The Umbreon had curled up on the floor beneath Hazel’s sofa. He looked at the blankets, but didn’t bother asking where Sleet had found them. Instead he just picked a red blanket out of the pile and spread it out, and then curled up on it instead of the floor, which was made of a laminated brown wood.

Sleet picked out a white yarn blanket and spread it out next to Kirio before curling up on it too.

Only a few hours until we all wake up and leave…… hopefully this next day won’t end up killing the three of us.